


Be Mine

by mrsbonniemellark



Series: High School Sweethearts [2]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, High School, braces!peeta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:01:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22764415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsbonniemellark/pseuds/mrsbonniemellark
Summary: Katniss and Peeta celebrate the first Valentine's Day since they started dating.
Relationships: Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Series: High School Sweethearts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/513241
Comments: 12
Kudos: 38





	Be Mine

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to get this out a couple of days ago but here it is! Hope you guys are having a happy Valentine's Day weekend!

Katniss rifles through her closet to find her orange sweater, the one that’s Peeta’s favorite color, and throws it on. He should be there any minute. 

“Prim, are you ready to go?” she calls, throwing her backpack over one shoulder and racing down the stairs.

“Yeah, what’s taking you so long?” Prim calls back. She’s sitting on the tile by the front door, tying the neon blue laces on her sneakers. 

“I was just--shut up,” Katniss says, thinking about how long it had taken her to figure out what to wear. There’s a knock on the door just as Katniss is pulling on her boots, and she jumps up to answer it.

Peeta clutches the bouquet of pink and purple tulips in his hands nervously, but looks at her steadily as he says, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Katniss.”

“Thank you,” she says, accepting the flowers. “And happy Valentine’s Day to you too.” She gives him a kiss on the cheek and they stand there smiling at each other for a moment before Prim clears her throat.

“I’m going to get a vase for the flowers,” she says, and disappears into the kitchen.

“Did you get all of your homework done?” Peeta asks. They’d both planned on working ahead on their homework so they would have the afternoon free.

“Almost,” Katniss says, biting her lip. “There were a few math problems I was stuck on.”

“I can help you with them after school, if you want,” he says, wrapping his arms around her middle and kissing her on the tip of her nose. Her arms come around him in response, the flowers still in her hands pressing into his back.

“Okay,” she says, blushing bright red.

Prim returns with a vase full of water and Katniss delicately places her flowers in it and puts it on the dining room table. They all pile into Peeta’s volvo and rush off to school, dropping Prim off at the middle school on their way.

Katniss placed a valentine in Peeta’s locker the day before so when they stop at his locker on their way to class, she bites her lip nervously, anxiously awaiting his reaction. The dial on his locker spins much too slowly as she waits, bouncing on her heels, until he finally opens the locker door and the card comes tumbling out. 

“What?” Peeta says, picking it up off the floor and examining it. Prim helped her decorate it with shiny heart stickers and gel pens on top of bright pink construction paper. It is perhaps the cheesiest thing she’s ever done, she thinks, but it felt right to her. Peeta takes it all in, reading the glittery “Happy Valentine’s Day” on the cover and the short note she’d written for him on the inside. Peeta finally closes the card, a shocked expression on his face. 

Katniss’s heart sinks, thinking he must hate it, must think she’s odd or childish, but Peeta suddenly rouses himself and wraps his arms around her tightly, holding her close, and she knows she didn’t miss the mark at all. “Thank you,” he says, kissing the top of her head, and she squeezes him tighter in response. “It’s perfect.” 

_You’re perfect_ , she thinks. But she can’t say that, so instead she says “You’re welcome.”

When the five minute warning bell rings, Peeta walks her to her first class and kisses her gently on the lips, “See you at lunch.”

_I’ll be counting the minutes_. “See you at lunch.” He turns to leave and she doesn’t let go of his hand until the last second, her hand trailing in the air after him. 

At lunch, Peeta gives her one more gift: a small white cardboard box full of heart-shaped cookies with pink frosting. They’re made to look like candy hearts, with writing on them in white frosting like “I <3 you” and “Be Mine.” Her favorite one has a simple heart with an arrow through it and it tastes like heaven. Their friends roll their eyes at them as they blush and hold hands while sharing the box of cookies, sneaking kisses in between bites, but Katniss ignores them. This is the happiest she can remember being in a long time.

Her last class of the day, French, is thankfully one she has with Peeta. Their teacher was being generous around Christmas and even let them pick their seats for this semester so she gets to sit next to Peeta. “Comment vas-tu?” Peeta asks her as they’re supposed to be conversing in French.

“Je veux aller chez moi et finir mes devoirs avec toi,” she says. _I want to go to my house and finish my homework with you_. She’s tired of being at school and just wants to curl up with him on her couch.

“Oui,” Peeta says, “je suis d’accord. Je veux aller chez toi aussi. J’ai une autre cadeau que je veux te donner.” _Yes, I agree. I want to go to your house too. I have another gift that I want to give you._

“Peeta, you’ve already given me so much,” she says in English, forgetting herself.

“I know,” he whispers, mindful of their teacher walking around and monitoring everyone’s conversations. “But I got you something anyway.” He reaches for her hand and rubs his thumb gently across the back of it. 

The rest of the class ticks slowly by, knowing what’s waiting for her after it, but eventually it does end and they walk to Peeta’s car and drive to her house together, picking up Prim from the middle school on their way.

Prim makes herself scarce when they get home, deciding to do her homework in her room. Katniss gets her own homework out and curls up on the couch with Peeta. She just has a few more math problems to do before she can put it away for the rest of the day. Peeta rubs her feet as she works on them for a few minutes alone, seeing if she can solve them after looking at them with fresh eyes. The first two she’s able to get that way, but she calls Peeta over to help her with the remaining ones. He shows her how he solved them, following the steps of the algorithm their teacher wants them to be using, and Katniss finishes them quickly and shuts her binder, throwing it on the coffee table and scooting closer to Peeta on the couch. 

She grabs his hand. “I have something I want to give you too,” she says shyly. “I’ll go get it.” She runs upstairs and retrieves the wrapped package she hid under her bed, hurrying down the stairs with it and arriving back on the couch out of breath. 

“Here,” she says, handing it to him. Peeta takes it in his hands, carefully removing the wrapping paper so as not to accidentally damage whatever might be inside. He gasps when enough of the paper is removed for him to see what’s inside. 

She got him a new set of paintbrushes. She saved up her money for two months to get them for him, but she noticed the ones he’s been using have been looking so frayed, she had to. “Katniss,” he says, his voice full of awe. “Thank you. I love it. You didn’t have to get me anything, really.” 

“I know,” she looks down at her feet, blushing. “But I wanted to. I want—I want to do things that make you happy.” 

“Just being with you makes me happy,” he says, taking her hand. “But thank you for the paintbrushes, really. These are the ones I’ve been wanting for a long time.” He smiles at her, revealing the shiny metal of his braces, and warmth fills her heart. She leans over and kisses him on the cheek in response.

Peeta grabs a small box out of his backpack and hands it to her. “And now it’s my turn.”

She removes the wrapping paper and opens the small velvet-covered box to reveal a gold chain necklace with a single pearl on it. She carefully takes it out of the box to look closer at it, how iridescent it seems in the light. “It’s beautiful, Peeta. Thank you.” He helps her put the necklace on and then she looks down at it, smiling. “You know you don’t have to get me presents either.”

“I want to do things to make you happy too,” he says. He takes her hand in his and looks at her steadily. “Katniss, will you be my girlfriend?”

“What...what would that mean?” Katniss says. She doesn’t know what it means to be a girlfriend, has never been one before.

“Well, for starters,” Peeta says, smiling, “It means you can kiss me anytime you feel like it.” 

“Oh yeah?” she laughs. “Then I’m your girlfriend.” And then she kisses him softly on the lips. 

“And it means you only kiss _me_ ,” Peeta says, stroking her cheek gently. 

“Okay,” Katniss says, kissing him again. “I don’t want you kissing anyone else either.”

“Good,” Peeta says. “Then it’s settled.” 

“It is,” Katniss agrees. She moves onto his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, and she feels that she could stay like this forever. “You’re my boyfriend.” She leans down to kiss Peeta again when she hears Prim’s footsteps on the stairs. She gives him one quick peck and moves to resume her spot next to him on the couch. 

The rest of the night passes uneventfully. Prim joins them to watch their favorite romantic movie, Pride and Prejudice (2005), and they all eat a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs together. When Peeta leaves that night, he kisses Katniss on the cheek and says, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Katniss.” 

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Peeta,” she says. _I love you_ , she thinks. "See you tomorrow."


End file.
